The Impact of Technology Orientation on the Export Performance with Emphasis on the Mediating Role of Innovation and Moderating Role of Corporate Social Responsibility

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of technology orientation on the export performance with emphasis on the mediating role of innovation strategies (exploratory and exploitative) and moderating role of corporate social responsibility.

This research is a descriptive correlation study and is one of the structural equation modeling in terms of implementation and data collection method. The statistical population of the study consisted of all manufacturers and exporters of detergent and sanitary products in Iran. According to convenience sampling method, 394 people were considered as statistical sample. For data collecting, a questionnaire with closed questions that containing 22 items was used. Validity of questionnaire was verified by confirmatory factor analysis and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. For data analyzing, Structural equation modeling and AMOS software were used.

The results of study show that technology orientation, through the mediating role of exploration innovation strategies affect on the manufacturers and exporters of detergent and sanitary products export performance. There is a direct relationship between technology orientation and exploration and exploitation innovation strategies. According to the results, we found that social responsibility has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between the technological orientation of the types of innovation (extraction and exploration). That is, at its higher levels, the intensity of the relationship between technological orientation and different types of innovation is stronger and vice versa.

The technology orientation, through the exploration and exploitation innovation strategies contribute to success of export performance. Accordingly, for success of on the export performance, manufacturers and exporters of detergent and sanitary products can emphasize two strategies of innovation while strengthening the technology orientation strategy.